Anxious to see what you think of the spi epoxy. I plan on using the same here as soon as I can make the most of it. The stuff ain't cheap.
They say to go light on the first coat to avoid fisheyes. Also read you can prolong the shelf life by purging all the air out with argon before capping off...
Never could find those seals when I did mine. Ended up buying some EPDM rubber sheet I think it was from McMaster and made my own.
Measured the depth of the counterbores for the seals and chose a smidge thicker material. Think I had around .030" or so crush.
Also made up a full set of 304...
Used to work in a shop making DOT structures...highway signs. Every now and then stuff would need to be re-worked after it had already been galv'd and these were, or at least ones similar, were how they were doctored up afterward. Pretty decent stuff from what I remember, FWIW.
edit: But...
Not sure about '81, but you may have one of these doublers to deal with sandwiched between the floor and the body perch, along with a boatload of spot welds. Probably added to beef things up a bit being it's at a mounting point.
This is from an '84 thru '88:
Whenever I get to it, I'll be using crushed glass. Leaves plenty tooth for epoxy and supposedly safer than sand.
Do your homework on how NOT to warp panels in the process. Many horror stories out there of panels getting wasted due to bad blasters.
@ntsqd...Does dry ice leave enough tooth for...
Good looking parts.
You by chance happen to check flatness? Notice any increase in hardness on the lasered cuts?
Was all set to use SCS awhile back until I found out their tolerance on flatness. Still on the fence.
^^ Yes.
I agree about not wanting to mod off the shelf parts. All depends on the need, I guess.
While it is possible to keep a c'bored spare packed away with you, what just hit me was the question what is the casting going to be like on the next one you buy?
Are they going to take another...
Just throwing out an idea here but if there's enough meat in the lug(s), you could add some counterbores for SHCS's.
The heads on metrics are a little bigger than their US equivalent, so you could actually turn them down a smidge to keep mass in the lugs.
And that's if the lugs are tall...
OP, if you're able to get a dolly behind it (along entire weld seam), I'd start with hammer and dolly first, starting with light taps and putting the coals to it as needed, hammering on the crowned side. If you're able to flatten it but end up with it oil canning on you in areas, then you can do...
Patch looks good.
Only thing I'd suggest is doing as large a radius as permitting in your corners rather than a hard square 90.
This will result in less wrinkling, or puckering near the corners.
AZ, that lower left is, ahem...spot on! 👍
Is that .023 wire? And how long is your whip?
I have a 25 footer but don't have confidence in .023 getting thru w/o nesting on me.
If you are going to try the puller route, do so BEFORE trying the heating trick as this will likely roast out any lube that may be down between peg and race.
Last thing you want is to be almost home and have it gall up.
If you've got a cut off then you can grind in some deeper reliefs behind that smaller lip to get a better hook for a puller to grab on to.
If those break you grind in a couple slots into the taper itself. Plenty of meat there.